Newfoundlands are known to be large working dogs, which are bred for fishermen in Newfoundland. They are of many different colors such as white, black, brown, and gray.
These dogs are intelligent, calm, loyal, and giant in size. They also have a lot of strength, thus making them suitable as working dogs.
How much should a Newfoundland eat?
Feeding a newfoundland can vary from their age and size. An average Newfoundland adult can be fed 225 grams a cup each day for every 11 kilograms. It also varies due to the type of food it is being fed. A Newfoundland puppy is fed about three times a day until they are 4 to 6 months old.
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A newfoundland needs to be nurtured from the very start of their life, their requirements of diet is very diverse from a few weeks to weeks.
The size of a newfoundland also greatly matters in this case. Their weight and size can vary within every 2 months, thus requiring more food.
A Newfoundland puppy below twelve weeks of age which is the weaning stage may require about three or more feedings per day. While a puppy which is past the three-month mark can have a reduced feeding of two times a day.
For most adult Newfoundlands, two times of feeding is adequate and their food requirement should be divided by two. The feeding schedule for a Newfoundland puppy can be spread in three parts, 7am in the morning, noon, and 5pm in the evening.
A schedule of that sort will make sure that the Newfoundland has more than enough time to digest the food it is eating, and to be able to get rid of the waste before it goes to bed.
Their food portions should be maintained strictly in order to avoid a Newfoundland to overeat and get overweight in the process.
2 to 3 week old Newfoundland:
A two to three weeks old Newfoundland is likely to be of the lower end of the weight spectrum, which is around 1.35 kilograms. A newfoundland of this age would require to be fed three times a day with a minimum calorie intake of roughly eighty-three.
You need to be very careful of how much you are feeding your Newfoundland, as puppies of this age are very sensitive to the portions of food you give them.
4 to 5 week old Newfoundland:
Things do not change much here for the puppy but it is expected to have a greater of a weight than 1.35 kilograms (about two-to-two point five kilos). The Newfoundland puppy would still be required to be fed thrice a day.
By now, the puppy should be requiring a calorie intake which is over a hundred to almost two hundred. The food needs to be divided into three equal parts throughout the day including the calorie intake.
6 to 7 week old Newfoundland:
As the Newfoundland puppy approaches the age between six to seven weeks, it is expected to have a more noticeable weight difference to what it was at two to three weeks. Its weight should range anywhere around four kilograms.
The puppy now would have a calorie intake requirement which is ranges from two hundred and fifty to near three hundred. A newfoundland puppy is still fed about three times a day at this age.
8 to 9 week old Newfoundland:
At the age of eight to nine weeks, a Newfoundland puppy could have a dramatic change in their weight, ranging anywhere from five to nine kilograms. Although, realistically they would be just above 6 kilograms.
They now cross the three-hundred and fifty calories per day mark which is still divided into three equal portions for the puppy to have. This is the age where Newfoundlands have a high chance of fast growth which needs to be kept under check.
10 to 11 week old Newfoundland:
Closing into the ten-to-eleven-week range for Newfoundlands, they are anywhere from seven to eight kilograms in weight. From here on out, the change of your Newfoundland will be quicker than the first seven weeks.
A Newfoundland of this age would require an average calorie intake of roughly five hundred. As the Newfoundland is still not considered as an adult, it is still fed three times a day.
3 month old Newfoundland:
By the three-month mark, the Newfoundland should be around the ten-to-fourteen-kilogram mark. It is now supposed to have a minimum calorie intake of about six hundred whilst being as high as nine-hundred.
The Newfoundland is taking a now getting a more sizable weight gain along with greater calorie requirements with each increment.
4 month old Newfoundland:
Since the Newfoundland puppy is now four months old, it should have an expected weight class anywhere from fifteen to eighteen kilograms. Along with that, there’s a good chance that its calorie intake has passed the one thousand mark.
This is the last stage of age where the Newfoundland puppy is fed thrice a day just like it has been for the past three months.
5 month old Newfoundland:
The 5-month mark is the minimum age where you can stop considering your Newfoundland to be a puppy. With a weight of about twenty-two kilograms, a grown-up Newfoundland requires a calorie intake of roughly one thousand three hundred.
A five-month-old Newfoundland is now set to have two meals a day of two cups.
6 month old Newfoundland:
Here, at six months old we see a rapid change in the Newfoundland. It is now expected to have a weight around twenty-five to twenty-eight kilograms.
The average calorie of a six-month-old Newfoundland would be ranging from one-thousand four-hundred to one-thousand seven-hundred.
7 month old Newfoundland:
At seven months, as an adult the Newfoundland is still set to have 2 meals a day with a calorie requirement of roughly two-thousand or slightly above. It is supposed to weight around thirty-four kilograms.
8 month old Newfoundland:
From month eight, the growth of a Newfoundland starts to slow down a little. The dog’s expected weight is now supposed to be around thirty-five to thirty-seven kilograms.
The expected calorie intake of an eight-month-old Newfoundland would be just over two-thousand one-hundred.
9 month old Newfoundland:
At nine months old, the Newfoundland has not relatively shown much of a difference than its last month. It is now supposed to have an expected weight class of around thirty-eight to forty kilograms.
The Newfoundland is supposed to have a calorie intake of about roughly twenty-five hundred.
10 month old Newfoundland:
Averaging at about forty-five kilograms, a ten-month-old Newfoundland is expected to have a calorie intake of almost two-thousand eight-hundred.
The Newfoundland is still fed twice a day like a regular Newfoundland adult.
Newfoundland feeding chart:
| Age | Expected dog weight (kg) | Recommended amount of food per day (cups) | Daily calorie intake | Feeding frequency(times) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks | 1.35 | 0.25 | 82.71 | 3 |
| 3 weeks | 1.35 | 0.25 | 82.71 | 3 |
| 4 weeks | 2 | 0.3 | 150 | 3 |
| 5 weeks | 2.5 | 0.35 | 200 | 3 |
| 6 weeks | 3.5 | 0.4 | 250 | 3 |
| 7 weeks | 4 | 0.45 | 300 | 3 |
| 8 weeks/2 months | 6 | 0.5 | 350 | 3 |
| 9 weeks | 6.5 | 0.7 | 400 | 3 |
| 10 weeks | 7 | 0.8 | 500 | 3 |
| 11 weeks | 8 | 1 | 600 | 3 |
| 12 weeks/3 months | 10-14 | 1-1.5 | 600-900 | 3 |
| 4 months | 15-18 | 1.8 | 1000 | 3 |
| 5 months | 22 | 2 | 1300 | 2 |
| 6 months | 25 – 28 | 2.5 | 1400-1700 | 2 |
| 7 months | 34 | 3 | 2000 | 2 |
| 8 months | 35 – 37 | 3.5 | 2100 | 2 |
| 9 months | 38-40 | 4 | 2500 | 2 |
| 10 months | 45 | 4.5 | 2800 | 2 |
Are you overfeeding your Newfoundland or not feeding enough?
About 59% of dogs are overweight, which suggests that dog owners do not know how to feed their dogs properly.
Overfeeding a Newfoundland might result in them becoming overweight and obese. This obesity can lead to many different sorts of health problems.
It is very easy for a Newfoundland to become overweight. Hence, it should be carefully regulated about how much food you are feeding your dog and what food you are feeding it.
Also, overfeeding your newfoundland would mean that you are spending unnecessarily more on dog food.
Overfeeding, or underfeeding your Newfoundland would be taxing on its life expectancy. The average life expectancy of a Newfoundland is 9.67 years.
If you are underfeeding or overfeeding your Newfoundland depends on six key points. It’s life stage, current weight, body condition, dog food preference, how active it is, and if it is spayed/neutered or not.
Each of them is correlated, there is an ideal weight for every age of Newfoundland along with cup measurements of how much to feed Newfoundlands of each weight class.
A Newfoundland which is more active might require more food than a Newfoundland which is not as active.
How frequently to feed your Newfoundland?
An adult Newfoundland should be fed about twice a day in order to help with tummy upset. Ideally you should feed them in the morning and in the evening as Newfoundlands have slow metabolism.
On average, an eighteen-kilogram bag of dog food would last anywhere from four to six weeks for a Newfoundland.
On the other hand, a Newfoundland puppy might not have an entire two cups of food at first. However, you should offer the puppy all the food and let the puppy eat until it is full.
Recommended feeding time:
A Newfoundland puppy can be fed about three times a day, with about a third of the total amount of food you will need to feed your Newfoundland.
Therefore, Newfoundland puppies are fed early in the morning at about 7am. Later on, at noon and then in the evening.
As mentioned before, Newfoundland have slow metabolism and thus their feeding times are far apart from each other to help them process all the nutrients in the food they eat. Adult Newfoundlands eat twice a day, early in the morning and in the evening.
Final Thoughts:
Hence, feeding a Newfoundland depends on their age and size. It also varies on the type of dog food they are given. A Newfoundland’s measurement of food to be eaten scales up along with their weight. An adult is fed about two times a day while a puppy is fed three times a day with 5 cups of food.